Improvement in apparatus for carbureting air



BYRON SLOPEYR.

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Patented June 13, 1.871l

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Improvement in Apparatus for Caburet \Nw www rum JD C//z am PATENT FFICE BYRON snornn or sr. Louis, Missionar.

lNlPROVEMl-INT ILN APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR.

Specification forming part of zLetters Patent -No.115,988, dated June 13, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRON SLOPER, of St. Louis, in the county' of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Air-Gas Lamps, or Apparatus for Oarbureting Air; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in an air-gas lamp or apparatus for carbureting air, so arranged that the atmospheric air will be automatically admitted through a valve or valves to the carbureter when the apparatus is in operation, and shut off when the apparatus is not in use, by said valve.

The gas apparatus heretofore in use has proved defective and dangerous,for the reason' that when the apparatus is not in use the vapor will escape through the air-inlet aperture, forming an explosive mixture in the room in which said apparatus is placed. Or, in cold weather, when a low gravity of hydrocarbon is used, the atmospheric air, entering the apparatus and becoming very lightly earbureted to the extent of eight parts of air to one of hydrocarbon vapor, would cause the flame to flush back through the pipes into the carbureter. To insure my apparatus om any danger attending its use from thiscause, I employ, between the carbureter and burner, a packing of wire gauze or other suitable material, which operates upon the principle of the safety-lamp, and thus prevents any communical tion or back-flow of the ilame from the burner to the carbureter. In my invention the liability of the vapor to escape, or to become'improperly mixed with air while the apparatus isnot in use, is entirelyobviated, since the operation of my valve is entirely automatic, and opens and closes invariably at the proper times; and hence no accident can possibly arise from its use, however careless the person may be to whom it is intrusted. In the drawing, Figures 1 and2 represent vertical sections of my apparatus ;A Fig. 3, a sectional view on line :v of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a view of the valve-box with the top removed, showingV the valve; and Fig. 5, a view of thevalvebox showing the valve-seat.

A represents a vessel or carbureter of any forming a winding passage, C, which'i`s\iilled with curled hair, excelsior, or other suitable"`-\` material. Said partition is secured tothe top of the carbureter, and its lower edge extends to near the bottom, so as to be covered by and immersed in the hydrocarbon liquid when the carbureter is charged. Extending from the top of the vessel B down through its center is a tube, D, which terminates near the bottom of said vessel, and tothe upper end of which is attached, by means of a screw-thread or otherwise, a valve-cap, E, in which the automatic valve F works. Said automatic valve consists of 1an annular disk, the aperture throughwhich comes directly over the opening or tube communicating with the carbureter. Said valve rests on an annular valve-seat, H, formed by the bottom of the valve-box or cap E, through which is made a series of apertures, h la, establishing a communication with the interior of the valve-box and the atmospheric air when burners below. Between. said burners and carbureter in the service-pipe is placed a packing of wire, wire-gauze, or other suitable material, M, which acts upon the principle of the safety-lamp, and prevents any back-flow of llame to the f carbureter. In the tube H is placed a float, K, attached to a rod, k, extending up into said tube, which indicates when the proper quantity of hydrocarbon liquid has been poured into the apparatus in lling.

ToV put the apparatus in operation the valvecap or box is removed, and hydrocarbon liquid poured into the tube until the valve-rod rises to the top ofthe tube D. The valve-cap is then replaced, and the cock at the burner turned so' as to open communieationwith the f carbureter. The vapor in the carbureter fallsl by its own gravity through the service-pipe, and issues at the burner, Where it may be lighted, at the same time causing a partial vacuum in the carbureter, which causes the air to raise the automatic valve and enter the carbureter through the valve-box and tube. When the light is turned olf the valve falls upon its seat, and is held iirmly closed by the pressure of the vapor or carbureted air Within,

stopping all communication between the carbureterand the atmospheric air until thacock is again opened at the burner.

I am aware that carbureting apparatus have Witnesses:

Crus. L. CooMBs, Jos. L. CooMBs. 

